TEHRAN, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) — Iran has no plans to hold negotiations with the United States during its delegation’s current visit to New York, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported Sunday night.
IRNA cited a source close to the Iranian delegation, which is in New York to attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, as rejecting “contradictory” reports about talks between Tehran and Washington.
The source said Iran’s considerations and positions were conveyed to the American side “explicitly and clearly” through the Qatari mediator on Sept. 22, and that Tehran is awaiting Washington’s response.
According to the source, there is no plan for a new round of negotiations with the American side, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi will leave New York for Tehran on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry quoted Araghchi as saying that the country had not yet received the U.S. “definitive” views through the mediators on its proposed seven-day plan to cease hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He added that Iran had conveyed its plan and conditions to the American side through the mediating countries and had seen U.S. President Donald Trump’s initial reaction to the plan, “but nothing has been conveyed to us yet by the mediators.”
Araghchi noted, “Of course, the U.S. president has made many contradictory statements, something we unfortunately hear from him quite often. We are waiting for definitive views to be conveyed to us via the mediators, and we will make our decision based on that.”
He had earlier said that under Iran’s plan, the country would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States accepted its conditions.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the region, and tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
On June 18, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ending the war in the region on all fronts, including Lebanon. Under the MoU, they were scheduled to hold negotiations within a period of 60 days, which ended on Aug. 17, to reach a final agreement, but the talks’ fate remains unclear following a series of recent escalations between the two countries.
